Video of a prodigious Ohtani dinger. Check out the look his teammate José Iglesias gives him. Like he's looking at a literal baseball god. Which he is.
(Fellow HSBBWebers: Smokeminside is such a freak. Writes about a prodigious homer and instead of showing that to us, he shows us some goofy pic of a side glance.
Me: Yes.)
So, here you go:
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Wow
Did you notice how long the bat stayed in the zone. In Japan they practice with 100 swings a day. H. Matsui same style of hitter.
Bob
Kris Bubic needs to be sent down for that BP toss.
Ohtani has a "hole in his swing", however the pitcher needs to be perfect to pitch in that hole.
As a pitcher Ohtani can be a "perfect" pitcher.
It would be interesting to have Ohtani pitch to himself.
Bob
Bob would you say the hole in his swing is on the high fastball?
USAFA Freshman Catcher / Reliever Paul Skenes. 109 mph exit velocity, mid 90’s fastball! And a great catcher! Three way player?
Bob, what would happen if Skenes pitched to himself and caught? Would he call for all heaters, or would he mix it up?!
He is an absolute monster. I wonder though if the doing both thing limits his potential to be absolute elite in one of the things.
He is of course elite especially this year in hitting but he strikes out a bit and I think his true talent is more like mid 800s ops in hitting and high 3s ERA in pitching.
That is an amazing feat in a time when the average NL pitcher hits for an OPS barely above 300 but I wonder if he could be a legitimate mvp/Cy candidate if he focused on one instead of "only" top30 in both (which is insane of course, most pro players would kill to be top30 in just one of them).
On the other hand this two way thing of course does help his brand value since that is so unique and makes him a superstar so that is an argument to stick with it as just as one of the things he wouldn't be as interesting.
Still I would be interested in what he could do as a hitter especially since he isn't really a DH but he plus speed and at least could be a good corner or maybe even CF.
I think as a full time hitter he could be a legitimate 30/30 guy with his power and speed.
But as long he stays healthy he probably should continue both, question is what they do if he gets another TJ.
EDCoach:
yes, up and in, however that pitch requires "set up" pitches.
Bob
LA21: the catcher would throw a "knuckle ball" In a discussion with Rich Bordi former MLB pitcher. I asked about his 1 day in the MLB.
He was pitching for the Cubs against the "Big Red" Machine with Joe Morgan, Bench, Rose and this game Tony Perez was the hitter. I said what happen"
"Tony continued to "foul off 12 pitches" and then I threw a "knuckleball" which I have never thrown before", and he hit it over the Ivy covered wall in LF for a HR.
Bob
